1. Technical Field
The invention relates to the storing and viewing of television program material in a computer environment. More particularly, the invention relates to adjusting the scheduling of television program recordings to adapt to schedule variations and resolving any conflicts arising from such adjustments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Video Cassette Recorders (VCR) have the ability to record television program material onto video tape. The typical VCR restricts the viewer to manually setting recording start and end times. These time frames are static and do not change unless the viewer edits or deletes the schedule.
Products such as Gemstar Development Corp.'s VCR Plus allow the viewer to record a television program by entering a code number into the VCR. The VCR automatically sets itself to record a particular channel and start and end time specified by the code number. The code number is obtained from a television program guide printed in a newspaper or periodical.
The VCR Plus approach has the same drawback as the manual recordings. The start and end times of the recording period are fixed. The manual and VCR Plus approaches do not take into the account the fact that television broadcasting stations are not always punctual and many begin their scheduled programs early or late.
The introduction of Digital Video Recorders (DVR) have revolutionized the television recording industry. DVRs store program material onto a storage medium that is easily accessible, reusable, and the recording does not degrade over time as with video tapes.
The current generation of DVRs allow the viewer to select the programs that he wants to record from an on-screen television program guide. The user simply highlights the program name and presses a button on his remote control. The DVR schedules the recording of the program at the scheduled time and duration.
This approach also has the drawback of not taking into account variations in the program schedules. Sports games such as football and baseball go into overtime and the viewer is unable to adjust the recording of the program to take the extra time into account.
It would be advantageous to provide a smart broadcast program recording padding and scheduling system that allows the user to specify the amount of time to add and/or subtract from the start and end times of a preset recording schedule for a particular program. It would further be advantageous to provide a smart broadcast program recording padding and scheduling system that resolves recording schedule conflicts by adjusting conflicting padding amounts and start and end times for scheduled recordings.